Hairball, Egg Yolk, Slippery Elm, Petromalt - Confused.....

[pipperoo]

I'd love to hear your advice and guidance!

Pip is a two-year old DSH who is a hair factory. She has the finest, silkiest, plushest fur but boy oh boy does she shed. I brush her daily with the ZoomGroom and the Roomba receptacle still fills daily!

About 4 weeks ago she vomited her first and only hairball**. Later that day, she vomited all her food (I was out during the day but came home to three puddles). I've seen her try to clear her throat once or twice since then but nothing has come up. Other than that, her activity levels, behaviour, appetite etc is all normal.

She's been on a raw diet for months, gets 1/2 an egg-yolk lecithin cap per day (altho this week I've upped it to one) She has regular BMs (about every two days, they are smaller than when she ate canned and I do see some hair in there). A week ago, she ate about 1.5" off the end of one of those fleece wand toys - I haven't noticed it in her litter box, so I'm wondering if it is sitting there in her stomach.

So that brings me to my questions:

1. If that bit of fleece is still in her, would a little grease in the form of oil/petroleum jelly/petromalt or some such help?
2. Does the EYL counteract the lubricant? I know it breaks up fat so I wonder if the two would counter-act one another.
3. Should I try slippery elm (and does it have to be a syrup? any other forms I can try?--Pip isn't good with syringe feeding)

**to complicate matters, Pip is a connoiseur of cashmere and had eaten about a 4" square patch out of a sweater so that hairball might have actually been a week-old chunk of sweater......

I'm all ears! Thanks everyone in advance.

 

[madzoya]

Hi!

I've had a scare like that a few weeks back, but thankfully Bruce vomited (at third attempt) whatever was in is stomach.

My advice, phone your vet before giving her any of the mentioned. My vet told me to wait 24 hours before going there.

This will bump your post up, and some of the experts can have better advice on this.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

So basically you want to know the best way to get that felt piece to pass? I think that's what you're asking. And, honestly, I'm not sure there is a right answer. They usually either pass it, or they don't .

I agree with asking your Vet their opinion on this. It might require an xray to see where it is. I know with her eating raw her stools would be quite small anyway, but have you been breaking them up just to make doubly sure it wasn't hidden in there?

You don't have to use SEP as a syrup, but even if you do make it into syrup, will she not eat it mixed in with a stinky food? I know mine won't, but lots of cats do, or so I've been told. Here's a tread on Non-syrup: Using slippery elm w/o making a syrup if necessary?

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

This reminds me of this thread,
Whew! the poo, it's blue!

I would think that 1-2 inches of something like what your cat ate should hopefully pass about 2-4 bowel movements later (that is, for my cat, the 1-2 inches of wool "mouse tail" described in the above link was naturally moved out of her system within 24 hours or so, but she didn't eat raw food at the time and had daily poops -- with your cat, the number of times your cat poops is less? so maybe it would take a bit longer?).

You want to watch for vomiting, lethargy, hiding, and no bowel movements... that is when I myself would probably contact a vet.

Insoluble fiber helps move bulk through the intestines in less time. Soluble fiber slows things down for better absorption. So I might recommend temporarily adding the relevant fiber to your cat's diet to help. One of the common insoluble fibers is peas, which is why many (usually dry foods) have peas in them. You can look up on the web if there are any other insoluble fibers you might want to try that are safe for cats, or check with your vet on their advice about an OTC one that could work for cats.